“The position I was in was to stay with my son or watch my husband leave with my daughter. I had to make a decision. I thought we could walk back across the border again,” she said.

There, he declared he was joining the Islamic State. They moved to the city of Raqqa, which served as the Islamic State’s de facto capital. She describes a nightmare that unfolded over the next three years, which included her 10-year-old son being forced to appear in an ISIS propaganda video.

Complicated cases

Cases involving the wives of extremists are complicated, says Christianne Boudreau. She’s a Canadian who leads a group, Mothers For Life, that seeks to counter radicalization. She started it after her own son ran off to join ISIS and was killed in Syria.

“In some cases, the women made a conscious decision, and it was theirs, and theirs alone,” said Boudreau. “In other cases, it’s an abusive relationship. It’s a very complex situation and it’s very difficult to determine which of those two it could be.”

“I definitely can relate to her, being taken to Syria against my will,” Joya said.

Joya is a British Muslim who moved to Texas 15 years ago to marry an American man, John Georgelas, who had converted to Islam. Both she and her husband were extremely devout. They strongly supported Islamic movements in general, which led them to move to Egypt.

By 2013, they had three young children and a fourth on the way. Her husband insisted they go to Syria, where he wanted to join the Islamic State.

Joya resisted, saying she believed the group was too extreme.

“I just wasn’t prepared to die for Syria. And of course, I didn’t want my children to die for Syria either,” she said.

Her husband persisted. With great reluctance, she says she agreed to go for two weeks. When her husband then decided to stay, she fled with the kids.

She called U.S. authorities, and asked to be allowed back in the U.S. She was, and still is, a British citizen, but her four children are American.

“Finally they said, ‘OK. We want you back. You can come back, you know, on the condition that you tell us everything you know.’ And I was absolutely happy to help because I wanted to get away from him,” Joya said.

She moved back with her in-laws in Texas, cooperated with U.S. officials by providing information on the extremists, and was never charged with a crime.

Joya divorced her husband, who’s still believed to be in Syria, though she’s not in touch with him and doesn’t know his exact whereabouts.

As she began to build a new life, she went on Match.com, with a very candid profile.

“I’m looking for a husband. I have four kids. I want someone older than me. My ex-husband’s crazy. And I’m here applying for a Green Card,” she said of her profile.

So how many guys responded to that?

About 1,300, she said. Match.com even sent her a note saying she had one of the “top 10 most reviewed profiles of the month.”

“So I was quite pleased about that,” Joya said.

Dating for the first time in her life, she learned a lot about male psychology.

“A lot of guys on Match.com don’t read,” she said. “They would be asking me on a date and I said, ‘Did you read my profile?’ They said, ‘No. it’s too long.'”

One who did read her profile was a man named Craig Burma. He and Joya married in June. The wedding photos show a stylish bride in a sleeveless lemon dress — a woman transformed from the one who used to wear a traditional Islamic hijab.

An exception

Happy endings are the exception for the roughly 70 Americans — almost all men — known to have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join up with extremist groups.

Some died on the battlefield. Of the 14 returnees to the U.S., 11 have been prosecuted, according to Seamus Hughes of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

“Most come back disillusioned and disenchanted by their experiences in the Islamic State and they’re very willing to cooperate with law enforcement,” said Hughes.

He says this cooperation leads to reduced prison sentences. Those that have been convicted or pleaded guilty are, on average, receiving sentences of around 10 years.

Regarding the women who have returned to the U.S. and other Western countries, he said their versions need to be carefully checked.

“The argument is, ‘I didn’t know what I was doing. My husband tricked me. I was just a wife that was living in the Islamic State,'” said Hughes. “If you kind of peel back the onion, you realize that in the most cases there were active participants.”

Returning to the U.S.

Samantha Sally says her husband Moussa Elhassani not only fought for ISIS, he bought two teenage girls as slaves and repeatedly raped them in their home.

She says her husband also abused her. She gave birth to two more children in Raqqa, and now has four altogether.

As the U.S. bombed Raqqa to rubble and the Islamic State crumbled last year, Elhassani’s husband was killed in the fighting.

She and her kids were among the civilians allowed to leave the devastated city, and they wound up in northern Syria at a detention camp run by a Kurdish militia allied with the U.S.

The family was handed over to the U.S. military and flown to Indiana on July 24.

Sally has been jailed on a charge of making false statements to the FBI. But she has not been charged with supporting the Islamic State. The state of Indiana has custody of her kids, at least for now.

And there’s one more twist in the case. Sally is charged with making the false statements to the FBI in Indiana on March 19, 2015 — which was before she and her family left for the Middle East later that year.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense is discussing the details. But the indictment strongly suggests that she and her husband were on the FBI’s radar and were questioned before they left on the trip that took them to Syria.

“I’m not a psychiatrist, but if she’s not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, I’ll be surprised,” said Tom Durkin, the lawyer representing Sally.

“We hope to be able to make some progress on getting her out so she can be reunited with her children,” he added.

Her trial is tentatively set for September.

Greg Myre is a national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Recent Posts

ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Volunteers from the American Red Cross are operating several shelters for residents affected by the ongoing flooding in the Finger Lakes. "Where individuals can take refuge, take shelter and get out of the high water, and we'll see what happens when the next round of rain comes through," said Brian McConnell, Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Chapter.

ITHACA, NY (WSKG) -- The attorney for the Town of Root says the town board should formally review recent actions by the town clerk. Robert Subik's comments come after the clerk refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple.

ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI)- Parents, business leaders and local clergy came together Monday afternoon to call on the state to ensure all students have access to critical courses in high school. A new report from the New York Equity Coalition shows that many black and Latino students don’t have the same access to high level and advanced placement courses as their white peers.

ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Heavy rains are causing problems in parts of the Finger Lakes on Tuesday morning. Some of the heaviest rain and worst flood appears to be in Seneca County. The Seneca County Sheriff’s dept.

About WSKG

WSKG connects you to local and global news and the arts online, on the radio, and on TV. NPR and PBS affiliate.

WSKG uses cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the use of such cookies. For more info, see our privacy policy.OKPrivacy Policy